Nous Tous: All In Art
The plaza of Old Chinatown, despite its iconic status as cultural hub, seems to be a COVID-19 wasteland. Souvenir shops close before dusk, yoga classes remain empty, and museums are locked up. One restaurant remains open at twilight, but it’s a burger joint (take-out only). One would think an array of faded Ancient Chinese facades and their unkempt state of plywood would indicate everyone left long ago, but in comes Kayla Palisoci, a young and confident woman poised to guide one of those locked-up museums into the future.
The Nous Tous Community Gallery is located on a dusty corner of Jung Jing Road. Judging by Kayla, its communications director and thought leader, the art of post-covid rules - we’re in this together - is more than a mantra. She is bent on transforming the gallery into a new kind of platform for bold voices. “Covid’s been a blessing in disguise.”
Everything about Nous Tous is going virtual, and global. Kayla explained that the museum has been receiving a lot of support from philanthropic organizations. “We were given grants to sustain our rent,” she said, “and so we could host community gatherings with folks who are in freaking Costa Rica, and basically do zoom meetings all over the world...it helped us branch out. ”
The space itself, now locked up behind a blue painted door, is being refurbished and the entire organisation that runs it, Citizens of Culture, is being restructured to focus on its new mission: to make Nous Tous a virtual museum for bold and emerging artists to showcase their work.
Nous Tous is french for “all of us,” and was the brainchild of a few women determined to create a space for developing critical thinking and emotional intelligence. This was all being started during the 2016 presidential elections, when both seemed to be on the decline.
Nous Tous became the headquarters of avante garde photographers like Jeanne Heo, an artist that focuses on the Korean community and Asian diaspora in Los Angeles. Overall, Kayla said that it is people like Jeanne Nous Tous is determined to highlight and capitulate in the world of art. “She is why Nous Tous is moving forward...she framed community-gatherings in a way that was one, authentic and two, intentional.”
Yet it is left to suspect what is next for small art spaces like Nous Tous. For all anyone knows, small, community-oriented museums may become relics of the past. According to the Los Angeles Times, most small-to-medium museums in Southern California don’t have the capacity to survive pandemic-related closures in the long-term, many may never open their doors again.
Nous Tous however, is different, and Kayla seems to take things in stride. It and she are quickly adapting to this ever-changing reality we face as a society. “Growth will come through commitment,” she said, getting and redefining what it means to represent and preserve the power of art, no matter its location.
To Support the gallery in its mission, visit their instagram page for more details on upcoming virtual events. www.instagram.com/noustousla or their website at NousTous.co
Written by Daniel Nieblas | Photographed by Robiee Ziegler
